Citing a Princeton study, Tom Stafford warns that online auctions push many of our psychological buttons:
With enough guidance from the auction rules, the bidders didn't end up paying much more than they originally thought was reasonable – but only if they thought they were bidding against a computer programme. As soon as the volunteers thought they were bidding against other live humans they found it impossible to bid rationally, whatever the auction rules.
This implies that the competitive element of auctions is crucial to provoking our irrational buying behaviour. Once we're involved in an auction we're not just paying to own the sale item, we're paying to beat other people who are bidding and prevent them from having it. So it seems Gore Vidal had human nature, and the psychology of auctions, about right when he said: "It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail."
The Dish 